Hiroki Tsukuda

STORAGE DIAGRAM 02

2019
charcoal, ink, and pencil on paper, c-print, wood panel, with silkscreen printed acrylic frame
24 x 30 1/3 x 1 4/5 inches

Though I have graduated from an art college, I have never learnt the techniques of painting properly. All the techniques amongst my works have naturally come out through my experiences or inspirations from the objects I have ever seen. They do not involve any sophisticated techniques, and hence are the most natural and simplest ways adopted for all my expressions. – Hiroki Tsukuda

The controlled chaos of Hiroki Tsukuda’s multilayered works conveys his continued interest in dystopian worlds and the complexities and contradictions of contemporary life. Tsukuda is colorblind and makes almost exclusively monochromatic work, though he says, “technically speaking, my works are not completely monochromatic, in fact the paper I use is quite yellowish, including some colors such as silver and brown,“ and continues, saying “I am assuming that they are colored paintings, yet I am eliminating the colorfulness from my works since it would then become an obstacle to the pursuit of the shapes.” His source images are both found and self-generated, and the combination of all this information and mark-making suggests that our lives are affected by systems and forces beyond our power. Tsukuda’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, and The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, and is in the collections of MoMA, New York; Jean Pigozzi Foundation, Geneva; and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna.